March 4, 2024 – Hacked You

Tesla Cybertruck Crashes Into the Beverly Hills Hotel Sign

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

Tesla Cybertruck crashed into the Beverly Hills Hotel sign at night.

This story originally appeared on Jalopnik.

If you follow social media, you’ll know that there have been more than a few crashes and fender benders involving the Tesla Cybertruck. Yet another such crash happened in Beverly Hills last night, reportedly involving the actual owner of the truck.

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We came across the incident on ~~Twitter~~ X. A user by the name of @jackdidthat tweeted that the valet at the Beverly Hills Hotel had crashed their friend’s Cybertruck along with a picture of the truck after the incident; it appears to have crashed into a wall right below the Beverly Hills Hotel entrance sign. This person was also weirdly reaching out to Elon Musk in the same tweet asking if he could help his friend get another truck. It turns out that wasn’t exactly the case.

InsideEV reports that the owner of the truck was actually the one responsible for the crash although they didn’t exactly say how they learned this information. No matter who cause the crash, the outcome does not look good. If you look closely at the picture from the scene, you can see that the front passenger wheel is off, likely due to how high the wall is near the sign.

There’s really no other details right now other than what we can see on social media. If this was caused by the owner, it’s a pretty shitty (and pointless) move to try and point the finger at an innocent valet. It will also be interesting to learn just how the hell the crash happened in the first place. User error? Malfunction? We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for more details as they become available.

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‘You Are My Secret Agent’: Air Force Employee Charged With Sharing Highly Classified Info on Dating App

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

A civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force has been arrested and charged with sharing highly classified military information on a dating app, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday. And it’s pretty clear from the indictment that whoever this man was talking to knew what she was after.

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David Franklin Slater, a 63-year-old from Nebraska, was arrested March 2 and charged with transmitting classified material. Slater, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, held a Top Secret security clearance and worked at U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base until he was arrested on Saturday.

The indictment alleges Slater was using an unnamed foreign dating site where he provided an unnamed woman with extremely sensitive information about the war in Ukraine. Russia first invaded Ukraine in late February 2022 and the messages quoted in the indictment start on March 7 of that year, less than a month after the conflict began. The war has taken the lives of tens of thousands on both sides over the past two years, with no end in sight.

The messages Slater received from the unnamed woman are peppered with loving phrases and indicate she claimed to be from Ukraine. But they also betray the fact that whoever Slater was actually talking to clearly wanted secret information by using pleasantries that included specific requests for details such as:

“American Intelligence says that already 100% of Russian troops are located on the territory of Ukraine. Do you think this information can be trusted?”
“Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting.”
“By the way, you were the first to tell me that NATO members are traveling by train and only now (already evening) this was announced on our news. You are my secret informant love! How were your meetings? Successfully?”
“Beloved Dave, do NATO and Biden have a secret plan to help us?”

Some of the messages were redacted by U.S. prosecutors in such a way as to not reveal the name of a given country:

“Dave, it’s great that you get information about [Specified Country 1] first. I hope you will tell me right away? You are my secret agent. With love.”
“Sweet Dave, the supply of weapons is completely classified, which is great!”
“My sweet Dave, thanks for the valuable information, it’s great that two officials from the USA are going to Kyiv.”
“Dave, I hope tomorrow NATO will prepare a very unpleasant ‘surprise’ for Putin! Will you tell me?”
“You have a job in the Operations Center today, I remember, I’m sure there is a lot of interesting news there?”

Slater responded to these romantic messages with classified info, according to prosecutors, including military targets in Russia. The indictment claims Slater responded via email and the dating site between February and April of 2022.

As an ally of Ukraine, the U.S. military has been assisting the country with both weapons and intelligence, some of which has leaked in embarrassing ways—including when 21-year-old airman Jack Teixeira allegedly posted secret intelligence to impress his friends on Discord in 2022. Teixeira was arrested in 2023 and is expected to plead guilty this week.

“Certain responsibilities are incumbent to individuals with access to Top Secret information. The allegations against Mr. Slater challenge whether he betrayed those responsibilities,” U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr for the District of Nebraska said in a statement published online.

“We look forward to continuing our work with the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations to ensure the safety of our country,” Lehr continued.

Slater is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday and faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count, according to prosecutors.

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Watch Palpatine Crack Open a Cold One in These Wild, In-Movie Star Wars Beer Ads

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

Ruling the galaxy with an iron fist and a not-insignificant amount of planet-sized battle stations is tiring work, and that’s even before you get to sexing your way to an immortal bloodline of evil. What’s an Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith to do if not occasionally sit back, relax, and crack open a beer with the boys (the boys being the Imperial Ruling Council)?

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That’s probably not what was at the forefront of the minds behind these incredible adverts for the Chilean beer Cristal, which went viral on social media over the weekend for being shitposts come to life. When the original Star Wars movies first received dubbed TV broadcasts in country in the early aughts, Chilean ad agency OMD Santiago hatched a marketing plan for Cristal by convincing broadcasters to run in-movie advertisements for the beer, to save having to messily edit a film to allow for regular ad breaks. Instead, you got “in-character” moments like Obi-Wan Kenobi opening a chest in his homestead to reveal not just Anakin’s lightsaber within, but a refreshing icebox of Cristal—complete with a jingle.

They are actually real—not only did Gizmodo check in with a Chilean contact to confirm these did air, not just in Star Wars broadcasts but across several major films at the time, in 2004 OMD Santiago won a major advertising award at Cannes for the campaign, much to Lucasfilm’s chagrin. The studio actually won a legal case in Chile about the telecast the same year, but that didn’t stop it from becoming an ad trend after OMD Santiago’s award-winning success.

You can check out a few more of the Star Wars ads below, which mostly just show Obi-Wan Kenobi to have a bit of a drinking habit during the events of A New Hope.

Comerciales Cerveza Cristal Star Wars (2004)

I mean, after finally convincing the son of the chosen one to join your spiritual battle against his dad/your former apprentice a couple of decades after he helped purge most of your friends and co-workers, wouldn’t you?

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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‘Free isn’t enough’: Apple calls out Spotify for ‘paying nothing’

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

EU regulators have just hit Apple with a whopping $2 billion fine over its App Store policies.

And Apple is calling out the company that filed the complaint in the first place: Spotify.

On Monday, Apple released a fairly long statement acknowledging a $2 billion fine levied against the iPhone-maker by the European Commission. The massive fine is the result of an investigation by the EU into a complaint filed against Apple’s App Store.

The complaint, filed by music streaming service Spotify, focused on Apple’s App Store policies that prohibit app developers from pointing users toward subscription options outside of the app in order to avoid Apple’s in-app purchase fees. An EU investigation concluded that Apple was engaging in anti-competitive practices and running afoul of antitrust laws.

Spotify celebrated the EU’s decision, which Apple said in its statement that it will appeal.

However, Apple took things even further. In fact, the majority of the statement is spent calling out Spotify.

Here’s what Apple said about Spotify.

Apple pulls no punches in its statement on Spotify.

Titled “The App Store, Spotify, and Europe’s thriving digital music market,” Apple spends the bulk of its statement addressing Spotify instead of the EU decision itself.

Apple highlights in its statement that Spotify pays absolutely nothing to the iPhone-maker for the Spotify app, which Apple says has been “downloaded, redownloaded, or updated more than 119 billion times on Apple devices.”

Taking things even further, Apple points out that even though Spotify doesn’t pay the company, Apple has worked with Spotify to make sure their app works with “Siri, CarPlay, Apple Watch, AirPlay, Widgets, and more.” Apple mentions that Spotify utilizes its tools like TestFlight and Apple’s APIs and that its review team “frequently expedites reviews” of Spotify app updates in the Apple Store “at Spotify’s request.”

Apple also seems to not-so-subtly point out that Spotify has some monopolization-related problems of its own, saying that the music streaming service “has a 56 percent share of Europe’s music streaming market — more than double their closest competitors.”

“Despite that success, and the App Store’s role in making it possible, Spotify pays Apple nothing,” Apple says.

“But free isn’t enough for Spotify,” Apple continues. “They also want to rewrite the rules of the App Store — in a way that advantages them even more.”

Apple goes on to accuse Spotify of wanting to accept payments directly within the iOS app, using all of Apple’s tools without taking part in the revenue share program that every other developer takes part in. Apple mentions how the company offers a “reader rule” policy which allows developers to provide a web page link in the app that directs users to account services, which could include billing management and sign-ups. However, Apple says that Spotify has not taken advantage of this option.

“Instead, Spotify wants to bend the rules in their favor by embedding subscription prices in their app without using the App Store’s In-App Purchase system,” Apple says. “They want to use Apple’s tools and technologies, distribute on the App Store, and benefit from the trust we’ve built with users — and to pay Apple nothing for it.”

“In short, Spotify wants more.”

Apple ends the statement saying it will appeal the EU decision. It’ll be interesting to see how the appeal goes, but even more compelling is what the future for Apple and Spotify’s relationship looks like.

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Here are the best iPad deals right now

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon’s various Prime Days, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, prices are likely to drop even further when Apple ushers in a new slate of iPad Pro and iPad Air models, which could happen this month according to the latest rumors.

Forthcoming models aside, it’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, from the cheapo ninth-gen iPad of 2021 to the latest models equipped with Apple’s powerful M1 and M2 chips.

The best iPad (2021) and iPad (2022) deals

Announced alongside the iPhone 13, the 2021 iPad is Apple’s aging entry-level tablet that still makes a fine device for doing the basics today. The ninth-gen model starts at $329 with 64GB of storage, though the base configuration with Wi-Fi is available right now for around $249 ($80 off) in silver at Amazon and Walmart, which is just $20 shy of its lowest price to date.

As for the 256GB model that normally retails for $479, Amazon and Walmart are both selling it for $379 ($100 off), which is another second-best price. If you prefer your iPad to include cellular connectivity, the LTE model is also often on sale; there aren’t many discounts available right now, but you can get the 256GB configuration at Amazon for $579 ($30 off).

A last-gen model is still worth considering

The last-gen iPad uses an A13 Bionic processor and a 12MP wide-angle camera with Center Stage, a feature designed to keep you framed up and centered while on video calls. The tablet also carries over a number of features from its predecessor, such as the 10.2-inch display, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the home button, and a Smart Connector for connecting a Smart Keyboard.

A 9th gen iPad on a wood table viewed from the top down

Apple’s entry-level iPad from 2021 has a 10.2-inch screen, an A13 Bionic chip, and a 12MP front camera that supports Apple’s Center Stage feature. It’s also compatible with the first-gen Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard and is the only iPad that still has a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Although the newer 10th-gen iPad came out in late 2022, the last-gen model is still an excellent tablet — one we consider to be a better value in most instances. The latest iPad modernizes the design with a switch to USB-C, uniform bezels with no home button, a side power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a larger display, but it excises the headphone jack and retails for a much steeper $449. That’s not much of an entry-level price, so hopefully the ninth-gen model sticks around and continues to see moderate discounts.

However, if you do prefer the latest model, the 10th-gen iPad is on sale at Amazon and Target right now in the 64GB base configuration for $349.99 ($100 off). As for the 256GB / Wi-Fi version that normally costs $599, Amazon and Target are currently offering it at $499.99 (about $100 off). These are actually worthwhile deals for the 10th-gen model, which makes it worth considering over the cheaper ninth-gen model if you prefer a more modern design and support for USB-C charging.

The 10th-gen iPad in yellow, resting face up on a wooden table.

Apple’s 10th-gen iPad is the spiritual successor to the older ninth-gen model. In exchange for its revised design, landscape-oriented webcam, USB-C port, larger 10.9-inch screen, and faster processor, it ditched the headphone jack and got more expensive. Read our review.

The best iPad Mini (2021) deals

The sixth-gen iPad Mini has a larger screen than its predecessor, along with a top-of-the-line processor, support for USB-C, and options for 5G. It has forfeited its 3.5mm headphone jack and dedicated home button in the process, but overall, it’s a solid device that brings a fully refreshed design to Apple’s small tablet form factor.

The changes and refinements to the newest iPad Mini come at a heftier price, however, and the new 64GB Wi-Fi model now starts at $499. Electing 256GB of storage brings the price up to $649, while the 5G cellular models are $649 for 64GB and $799 for 256GB. These are some big numbers for a small iPad, and the larger iPad Air might be worth considering if you prefer your dollar to go further with more screen real estate. But if you want the latest and greatest from Apple in a smaller format, this is where the action is.

Apple’s revamped iPad Mini ditches the home button and opts for a larger edge-to-edge display. It also comes outfitted with a faster processor, support for USB-C, and a top-mounted power button that moonlights as a Touch ID sensor.

As of right now, P.C. Richard & Son is selling the 64GB base model of the iPad Mini for $399 ($100 off). If you need additional storage, Amazon and B&H Photo also have the 256GB / Wi-Fi model for $617 ($32 off). As for the cellular version, you can often find the 64GB model with 5G on sale for $549.99 ($100 off), but no retailers are offering discounts on it as of writing. If you want the step-up 256GB version with LTE, however, it’s on sale at Amazon in pink for $629 (about $170 off).

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The best iPad Air (2022) deals

The latest iPad Air usually costs $599, but right now, it’s on sale for around $449 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, matching its all-time low. The Air is our top iPad recommendation for most people thanks to its speedy M1 processor, modern design, and midrange price. For those who crave more storage, the 256GB variant is also available for $599.99 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.

The 2022 iteration of Apple’s lightweight tablet is similar in terms of its capabilities when measured against the previous-gen model but still offers a handful of iterative upgrades. The most pronounced improvement is the M1 processor, which offers better performance, and the front-facing 12MP camera comes equipped with Apple’s Center Stage feature that helps to keep a moving subject centered when recording video or during video calls.

The iPad Air standing on a red table in front of a white background.

The latest iPad Air retains the iPad Pro-esque redesign of the 2020 model but does away with the A14 Bionic processor in favor of Apple’s fast M1 chip. It also comes in one of five colors and boasts a 12MP front-facing camera with support for Apple’s Center Stage feature.

Writing a note on the 2022 iPad Air with the second-generation Apple Pencil

The latest iPad Air looks a bit like an iPad Pro and uses Apple’s fast M1 chip. It also comes in one of five colors and boasts a 12MP front-facing camera with support for Apple’s Center Stage feature.

The best iPad Pro (2022) deals

The latest generation of iPad Pros looks a whole lot like the prior model from 2021, as the changes are primarily on the inside. The new Pros still come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes, with the better-looking Mini LED panel once again reserved for the larger model, though both now pack Apple’s newer M2 CPU for even better processing power.

The striking resemblance to the prior generation aside, there are a few reasons to opt for a Pro over something like an Air, such as Face ID unlocking and additional base storage. If display quality is the most important factor in your purchasing decision, the 12.9-inch version is the way to go, as its Mini LED display achieves deeper blacks and better contrast, much like an OLED panel.

Aside from that, as well as a nifty new hover feature that shows where your second-gen Apple Pencil’s tip will land before you touch the screen, they’re very similar to the older models from 2021. The 128GB base models even start at the same price — the 11-inch and 12.9-inch models retail for $799 and $1,099, respectively, and go up from there. As for 5G cellular versions, the 11-inch model starts at $999 and the 12.9-inch model at $1,299.

A 12.9-inch space gray iPad Pro face down on a wooden table, viewed from the top down.

The 2022 iPad Pro touts a faster M2 processor, a new hover feature with the second-gen Apple Pencil, and support for Wi-Fi 6E. However, its design remains unchanged from the 2021 model.

There currently isn’t much in the way of deals on the 11-inch M2 iPad Pro. The best deal you can get is on a Wi-Fi model. B&H Photo has the 128GB 11-inch M2 iPad Pro in space gray for $749 ($50 off), the 256GB configuration in space gray for $849 ($50 off), and the 512GB model in space gray for $1,029 ($70 off).

If you want the larger, 12.9-inch iPad Pro, B&H Photo is again the only place you’ll find a discount on it — and it’s not an impressive savings. You can buy it with 128GB of storage in silver or space gray for $1,049 ($50 off). The 512GB model in space gray is also on sale for $1,329 ($70 off), and you can get it with 1TB of storage in space gray for $1,699 ($100 off). You’ll have to keep checking back if you’re seeking a deal on models in other colors, capacities, and cellular capabilities.

A 2022 Apple iPad Pro in a Magic Keyboard case on a wooden desk.

Apple’s latest iPad Pro comes with the faster M2 processor and supports Wi-Fi 6E but otherwise shares the same design as its predecessor. The larger 12.9-inch model sports a higher-quality Mini LED panel than the 11-inch version.

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ChatGPT can read its answers out loud

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

OpenAI’s new Read Aloud feature for ChatGPT could come in handy when users are on the go by reading its responses in one of five voice options out loud to users. It is now available on both the web version of ChatGPT and the iOS and Android ChatGPT apps.

Read Aloud can speak 37 languages but will auto-detect the language of the text it’s reading, and the feature is available for both GPT-4 and GPT-3.5. It’s an interesting example of what OpenAI can do with multimodal capabilities (the ability to read and respond through more than one medium) revealed soon after a competitor, Anthropic, added similar features to its AI models.

ChatGPT launched a voice chat feature in September 2023 where users can directly ask the chatbot prompts without typing. But the new feature will let people have ChatGPT read written answers aloud, and users can set up the chatbot to always respond verbally when responding to prompts.

On mobile apps, people can tap and hold the text to open the Read Aloud player, where they can play, pause, or rewind the readout. The web version shows a speaker icon below the text.

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Fired Twitter execs are suing Elon Musk for over $128 million

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

But this time, it’s the same execs who forced Musk to close his $44 billion acquisition in the first place, who are now claiming his goal was to “cheat” them out of $200 million before their stock options vested the next morning. They also have a remarkably thorough source to explain why he closed the deal and fired them when he did: Elon Musk himself, as quoted by Walter Isaacson in the biography released last year, Elon Musk.

“There’s a 200-million differential in the cookie jar between closing tonight and doing it tomorrow morning,” he told me late Thursday afternoon in the war room as the plan unfolded.

Another passage cited from the book calls out a conversation between Musk and his lawyer, Alex Spiro. “[H]e tried to resign … but we beat him,” they said, specifically referring to Agrawal. By firing Agrawal before he was able to send a resignation letter, they apparently believed it would mean the company wouldn’t have to pay his severance package.

Despite claims made by Elon Musk’s X about negligence, waste, and misconduct, the lawsuit argues it was authorized by the company’s board and necessary to do things like pay $90 million to the lawyers who forced Elon Musk to pay $44 billion for Twitter.

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Apple MacBook Air With M3 First Look: More Power Per Square Inch

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

Apple’s lightest laptop, the MacBook Air, is back and powered with the tech giant’s swankiest new silicon. The M3 chip that we’ve seen inside of it’s new MacBook Pro. Gizmodo had a chance to see the new Airs in person, but while the starting $1,099 laptop might look very similar to fans, most of the new you’ll care about is being stuffed underneath the hood.

While they look very similar to the 2022 Macbook Air, with all the same colorways you’ve come to expect, you’ll need to boot them up to get the real change. The laptops also now support WiFi 6E, allowing faster download speeds. Along with the speed and power of the M3 upgrade, the latest MacBook Air will support two external displays when the laptop is closed, compared to the one external monitor previous Airs could support. You won’t be able to keep the MacBook open and use both external monitors simultaneously, so keep that in mind for those looking to maximize productivity.

How Much Does the M3 MacBook Air Cost?

Apple’s latest version of the MacBook Air still comes in 13- or 15-inch varieties, and the company is touting an 18-hour battery life, though we’d need to put the laptop through its full paces before subscribing to that claim. Otherwise, they still support the IPS LCD Liquid Retina displays up to 500 nits of brightness. The new version of MacBook with M3 starts at $1,099 at 13 inches and $1,299 at 15 inches. The older rendition of the light laptop will also be a little lighter on your wallet. Those seeking out the 13-inch M2 version can now expect to pay $100 less MSRP when buying new, which is a nice deal considering the M3 version of the MacBook Pro effectively replaced the M2 version. You can preorder both devices starting Monday, and they should become fully available Thursday, March 8.

As for how it looks, there’s no major difference between this and the previous MacBook Air. It still comes in Silver, Space Gray, cream-colored Starlight, and the anodized Midnight black tone. There are two Thunderbolt ports, a MagSafe charging dock on one side, and a single headphone jack on the other. Both the 13.6-inch and 15.3-inch screens are disrupted by the notch hanging down to the top of the screen, as much as we might wish that a black bar cutting into the screen would vacate the premises.

If you like your laptops as thick as a frisbee, then the MacBook Air has long been one of the better choices for ultra-thin productivity tasks. Specifically comparing performance to the M1 version released four years ago, Apple claimed the M3-powered MacBook Air should be able to handle Final Cut Pro tasks 60% faster than the M1 for editing. You don’t get a choice of the M3 Pro or M3 Max, though you can opt for a version with a 10-core GPU, up to 16 GB of memory, and 512 GB of SSD storage.

Why is Apple Pushing AI and Gaming?

Apple’s doing a lot more to promote the power of its latest laptops, even beyond what it has in the past. It now claims the latest laptops are even better at gaming, claiming accelerated performance on games like No Man’s Sky. Of course, Hello Game’s space sim isn’t exactly pushing any system out there to the max.

The company is also pushing the power of its neural engine contained in the M3 chip, something Apple hadn’t explicitly noted during its other laptop release. As an example of AI capabilities, the company used Photomator’s Super Resolution Feature as a benchmark, claiming it ran 40% faster than the M1. While pretty much any modern machine can run Google’s or Microsoft’s AI in the cloud, the Cupertino company claims it should be able to run some AI models, such as the AI app FreeChat, on the device.

Apple would like to step into the AI conversation, especially with today’s talk of so-called “AI PCs.” Some of the latest chips from Apple and Qualcomm sport neural processing units, but Apple is keen to say it’s been doing neural processing before AI became such a completely overused—and frankly vague—term.

The Cupertino, California company is on a two-year cycle for its MacBook Airs, which seems to be best for those keen on Apple’s ultrathin design. While the MacBook Pro line received the M2 and M3 chips in the same year, the last MacBook Air benefited from the M2 far earlier, proving to be one of the better options available under Apple’s MacBook lineup. Still, even though the M2 was certainly more powerful than the M1, it wasn’t a massive jump that demanded you upgrade immediately.

Can the same be said for the M2 to M3? Apple is promoting the M3 chip as 60% more powerful than the M1, and in our recent MacBook Pro reviews and benchmarks, we found that to be fairly accurate. However, the more casual user won’t truly notice a massive difference in performance between one and the other. We’ll have to see how well the latest Air stacks up to its previous self.

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7 Brutal Jabs Against Elon Musk From the $128 Million Lawsuit Over Twitter Severance Payments

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

Elon Musk at the premiere of Lola held at the Regency Bruin Theatre on February 3, 2024, in Los Angeles, California — Elon Musk at the premiere of *Lola* held at the Regency Bruin Theatre on February 3, 2024, in Los Angeles, California

Several former Twitter executives filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging Elon Musk illegally tried to stiff them out of severance totaling roughly $128 million. Musk is portrayed in the lawsuit as a petty and vindictive man who, “uses his wealth and power to run roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him.” And it gets even more pointed in its attacks from there.

The lawsuit, a copy of which was first published by Platformer, was brought by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, and former Twitter lawyers Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett. And their lawyers aren’t holding back when it comes to ways to describe Musk.

Musk agreed to buy Twitter in early 2022 for $44 billion before trying to back out of the deal. After a court in Delaware forced Musk to go through with the purchase, the billionaire took control and fired virtually everyone in top leadership. Musk said he fired them “for cause,” believing he wouldn’t need to pay huge severance packages to the executives, but this lawsuit will answer that question.

Musk would go on to make other dramatic changes to the site, including changing its name to X and allowing anyone with $8 to buy a blue “verification” checkmark. X doesn’t actually verify the identity of anyone with a checkmark, which means anyone can now get boosted by the social media site’s algorithm for the low, low price of just $8.

One thing that shines through in the lawsuit is that Musk’s words are being used against him, including quotes from Walter Isaacson’s biography of the billionaire published in 2023.

Click through the slideshow to see some of the most brutal quotes from the lawsuit, which don’t spare the billionaire’s feelings.

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Switch Emulator Developers Will Shut Down and Pay $2.4 Million to Nintendo

Leave a Comment / March 4, 2024

Nintendo has a history of not just stopping video game pirates, but ruining their lives. The Mario maker sued Yuzu, a notorious free emulator of the Nintendo Switch just last week. On Monday, the developers behind Yuzu agreed to shut down the website entirely and pay Nintendo $2.4 million dollars, according to court documents. Citra, another free and open-source emulator for Nintendo’s 3DS run by the same company, will also shut down.

What Was Your First Experience with Super Mario Bros? | io9 Interview

“We write today to inform you that Yuzu and Yuzu’s support of Citra are being discontinued, effective immediately,” said Bunnei in a post on Monday, a lead contributor on the emulators. “We started the projects in good faith, out of passion for Nintendo and its consoles and games, and were not intending to cause harm.”

The developers behind Yuzu and Citra, Tropic Haze, were video game lovers and made products to enable greater access to Nintendo’s games. However, this involved piracy and theft, according to the court. The website yuzu-emu.org will be immediately transferred to Nintendo, and Yuzu’s creators are legally barred from creating anything like it.

The developers behind Yuzu didn’t put up much of a fight in this legal battle with Nintendo. The code repositories behind Yuzu and Citra have already been removed from Github, as first spotted by The Verge. The open-sourced project could be replicated by other actors, but doing so could land someone else in a similar situation to Tropic Haze.

Users in the subreddit r/yuzu have rushed to download and save the latest versions of Yuzu in the last week before they are deleted permanently. The subreddit, which has over 86,000 members, was filled with farewell messages to the beloved platform on Monday.

Nintendo claims that Yuzu’s entire purpose was to circumvent Nintendo’s copyright protections. It didn’t help Tropic Haze in court that Yuzu’s software was often used to leak game content before its official release, according to Yuzu’s admins.

In 2019, Yuzu released an update that allowed classic Nintendo games to run at a full 60 frames per second, the same performance you’d get on the actual Switch hardware. It was a pivotal moment for the emulator, making its free, open-sourced Nintendo games about as enjoyable as the real thing.

There’s often not much money in piracy projects like this, and the legal fees alone could crush the once-Nintendo enthusiasts. Yuzu was making roughly $28,000 per month on Patreon, but it’s unclear how many admins there really are or how profitable the company is. The Patreon will shut down as part of the lawsuit.

Yuzu and Citra’s story is a familiar one. Last month, video game pirate Gary Bowser shared with The Guardian how he is facing a lifetime of debt after his legal battle with Nintendo. The company is historically ruthless about making examples out of large video game pirates, and Nintendo made no exception with Yuzu.

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